This invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for providing insulation materials in a simple economical manner for being applied to buildings or other structures. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with an apparatus and method for the economical and efficient application of particulate insulation materials from bales of insulation to the surfaces of buildings or other structures by pneumatically blowing or spraying such particulate insulation materials.
The types of insulation materials with which the present invention is concerned include generally but not exclusively fibers such as granulated rock wool, granulated mineral fiber wool, glass fiber materials, cellulose fibers, expanded mica, etc. This insulation material may be in particulate form and may be either blown dry or sprayed through a nozzle with liquid added to form an insulation and sealing coating on any surface. The insulation material has been blown on conventional walls and ceilings of places of habitation or working areas but also may be sprayed on any other surface as desired.
The insulation material used in conventional insulation spraying and blowing machines is typically in a relatively loose condition though usually packed under high compression in bags or sacks for shipment to the user. Upon being opened, these bags or sacks are typically manually emptied into the receiving hopper of a conventional insulation spraying and blowing machine. Prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,390 issued to Homer G. Woten recognizes the problems occurring from compressed masses of insulation material that normally would render the insulation material difficult to use in conventional apparatus that requires feeding through an air hose to a dispensing nozzle. To reduce these large masses, which may include nodules of the insulation material, separation into particulate form must be accomplished, although the insulation material may be to some extent mutually entwined and not be discreet. The term "particulate" as used hereinafter must be understood to include not only particles but also one or more intertwined or overlapping fibers and for convenience the term "particulate material" will therefore include materials formed as particles as well as fibers. These problems presented by the compacted materials have been overcome by the aforementioned patent as well as others held by the same patentee including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,085,834 and U.S. Pat. 3,529,870.
To apply these insulation materials not only in particulate form as discussed above but also economically and efficiently, the desirable insulation blowing apparatus would be on a wheeled vehicle for convenience and economy of application. This necessitated a continuous supply of insulation filled bags or sacks with the insulation being emptied into the hopper of the insulation blowing machine. Because such hoppers had relatively limited capacity, continuous attention by an on site worker must be had to retrieving, opening and emptying the bags or sacks of insulation into the hopper and then disposing the bag or sack. Typically, that would be almost a full time occupation for such worker while a fellow co-worker was applying the insulation at the nozzle end of the hose attached to the blower. Such labor intensive operations have been found to be uneconomical and time consuming and therefore it would be desirable to have only a single operator at the nozzle end for applying the insulation while there is a continuous and more than adequate supply of insulation material always available for the blowing apparatus.
U.K. patent application GB 2072352A published Sep. 30, 1981, but later withdrawn, has attempted to meet some of the concerns of the prior art by incorporating the use of bales that are loaded onto the side of a truck that possesses a moving floor structure to carry the bales towards a conventional blower for dispensing the insulation. The bales and the means of banding, if any, are not otherwise identified but are nevertheless said to be urged by the moving floor towards the hopper of the conventional insulation blower where the bales are alleged to be broken up so that the insulation can be blown out through the hose attached to the blower. No conventional blowing apparatus could receive any tightly compacted bale of insulation material and efficiently and economically generate particulate material necessary for entering the blowing apparatus. Accordingly, it is believed that this attempt to provide the necessary supply of insulation material to the blowing apparatus would not achieve its purpose because either the bales would be too loose and fall apart before loading or if tightly compacted would take a long time to be broken up by conventional blowing apparatus into necessary particulate form. Thus in either case, this described process would produce, if not inoperative, an unsuccessful and uneconomical insulation blowing technique.
Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide for the continuous supply of baled insulation material to a unique insulation bale receiving apparatus that disengages the insulation from the bale so that it may be accepted by and dispensed through a conventional air blower onto a surface to be insulated.
Another object of the invention is to provide a means for electronically determining and monitoring the amount of insulation material dispensed by the system and for automatically controlling the dispensing of insulation based on various pre-selected parameters.